Named and shamed

LEADING biotechnology companies that failed to stick to agreed plans for field experiments with genetically engineered plants have had their knuckles rapped by Britain's gene police. Though not fined, the culprits have been named and some have been forced to rip up the plots.

The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), which advises the British government on the safety of releasing genetically engineered organisms, last week publicised a rogues' gallery of companies and research labs that have breached the terms of their consents to carry out field experiments.

The companies are Monsanto of St Louis, Missouri, the world's largest agricultural biotech firm; Plant Genetic Systems of Ghent in Belgium; AgrEvo of Frankfurt, Germany; and Nickerson Biocem of Cambridge. The other miscreants are the Scottish Crop Research Institute near Dundee and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge.

"This should help to show that the government is not ...

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